Leveraging Online Communities

Dale Dougherty and Dan Woods, Make:’s editor/publisher and associate publisher, respectively, knew they had a good thing going when Natalie Zee blogged about knitting on Make:’s Web site. “It was one our most popular posts of the week,” says Woods. “We found the 20 and early 30-somethings that make up a lot of our [Make:] readership don’t distinguish between tech and craft. So we’re responding to that.”

From Zee’s blog posts;which Woods points out is an easy way to test ideas;and a realization that there’s a healthy audience of tech-savvy crafters who like to congregate online, Dougherty and Woods saw potential for a cross-over title that celebrates a DIY ethic that bridges the gap between, say, electrical engineering and crochet.

However, it was a close monitoring of the audience that helped them determine the potential. “We included a craft component in the Maker Fair and it was very popular,” says Dougherty. “So there was evidence on the gut level that we were onto something;that people were on to the same movement as Make:.”

“It’s the osmosis of living in a community maker spirit,” says Woods of what can happen when you follow your audience’s trail of interest. “You find that a guy does some glass bending and some beading;not just tech stuff. There’s some crossover, but clearly two different schools that share sensibilities.”

A fall launch date has been set for Craft:, with newsstand commitments in the 30,000 range and total paid subscription expectations for the first issue around 35,000.

SourceMedia CEO Doug Manoni has been named chairman of ABM. Manoni, who most recently was vice chair of the business media association, will succeed outgoing chairman Neal Vitale. His term starts immediately.